Normalcy
by bee-black
Summary: Petunia saw Vernon's true colors not long after Harry came to live with them. Horrified by her discovery, she leaves with her two baby boys to try and have a somewhat normal life. AU. Slight OOC, eventual H/Hr e Petunia/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer #1: I do not own Harry Potter. I'm just a writer wannabe and I have too much fun doing this to stop now. ILY, J.K. Rowling! Thanks for this amazing world you created and for letting us play with it.**

**Disclaimer #2: I'm a brazilian gal, so please excuse any spelling mistakes. Feel free to point them out to me, tho! :D**

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When Petunia Evans met Vernon Dursley, she thought he was perfect. For her, that is. He had just graduated from University, already had a junior position in a promising company, wasn't really _that_ handsome (just ordinary enough not to attract the attention of women prettier than her) and, above all, he was _normal_.

For Petunia craved normalcy above else.

Ever since discovering that her sister was a witch, and worse, that she wasn't as special and couldn't be one, her life had irrevocably changed. She watched Lily grow up in a strange world, were creatures from her nightmares really existed and a frog's spleen was something ordinary to handle on a daily basis in school. She watched as Lily gradually grew apart from her family, spending more and more time with those abnormal friends of hers, and watched her parents struggle to accept that they were way losing their little girl to something neither of them could truly understand. Lily tried, she had to acknowledge that, but it just wasn't the same. How were they suppose to understand what being a Charms Mistress was? Or worse, doing something so fundamentally weird that the job position was actually called _Unspeakable_?

Petunia hated Lily. Before the event (as she called the arrival of the Hogwarts letter in her mind), she was a kind, funny little girl who adored her older sister Tuney and always tried her best to emulate her. No, that Lily she loved, and she believed that she would love her to her dying day. The Lily she hated was the one she became after going to that place. She was fierce, witty and beautiful, everything Petunia had not grown up to be. But, worst of all, she was part of something that her older sister could never be, a member of a secret society that frowned upon her, and that she could not accept. She had come to terms about losing her baby sister to the other world, but she would never come to terms with the fact that she couldn't be a part of it, if she so desired.

And she had desperately desired it. She had wanted to go to Scotland with Lily, to have adventures with magic, to explore a side of her she never knew existed. But that wasn't possible. As that dreadful Snape boy once pointed out, she wasn't special as they were. She was just a Muggle. And then, right after she and her parents said goodbye to Lily in King's Cross for the first time, she decided to embrace who she was. She was normal. Normal was good. Normal was the best thing in the world, and nobody was taking that assurance from her. Ever.

And that's why she thought Vernon Dursley was a brilliant match for her. When, two weeks after they first met, he asked her to go on a date with him, she had happily agreed. Even if he was rather pompous, held her arm a little bit too tight, and never seemed to consider her opinions worth more than a "oh, certainly", she had agreed. Because, once again, he was as normal as she would ever find a man to be.

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As the months passed by, she began to carefully test Vernon to see what his reaction to the truth about her sister would be. She had told him the story every family of a muggleborn was coached to tell: Lily attended a school for the gifted, away in Scotland, and Petunia had declined to attend because she hadn't want to leave their parents alone. He believed her, and made no further comments. When he first met her sister in the summer, though, she could tell he figured something was off with her. She didn't know "basic" things like who had won the previous election or what scientific advances the newspeople were talking on the TV as of late. She had smiled and nodded every time he made a comment about these things, but had quickly changed the subject by asking her parents something. Petunia was tense during the whole affair, so she wasn't exactly surprised when he grabed her arm on the way out and asked for a kick word.

"She's a bit weird, isn't she, darling?" He said, narrowing his eyes in the direction of the sitting room.

"Yes, that's why she's off in a school for the gifted. Sometimes she just doesn't pay attention to the things that are happening around here, being away for so long and with all those weird things her school must have." She believed it was a sound lie, but with just enough truth in it so that she could sense Vernon's reaction.

"Yes… Not quite **normal**, don't you think? I am ever so glad you chose not to go with her. Imagine if you acted that way, I am not sure if we could ever date, then!" He laughed, but it sound more like a snort, and Petunia knew then and there that Vernon would not take well the existence of the Wizarding World. And she was more than happy about it.

So she smiled, gave him a chaste kiss and said good night. All with her heart beating real, real fast, for she could see that they had a future. Because Vernon would never want anything but normal in their lifes, and Petunia loved him for it.

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But she also noticed little things about her man that didn't quite fit well with her notion of normalcy. He often complained about new employees, saying that they were stealing his promotions, but she never got the feeling that he actively worked to achieve better things at the company. It was as if he simply expected his boss to hand him a promotion, just for being the great Vernon Dursley. Those thoughts she dismissed as merely inconvenient, after all everyone had flaws. Surely she could help him see that this wasn't the best behavior, and everything would be well.

Or when he would always comment that certain things weren't "right", and some people "should be in prison for the way they dress", and when he kept saying that he "could do better that any other guy I know in most sports, even most jobs". She believed it was his way of trying to impress her, even if she was not that impressed by the attitude.

Except that was not all. She always stood by silently when he got angry for no reason with every single person in the room.

"Really, Petunia, that man did not put all the popcorn that was supposed to be in our bag. He was robbing us! What would you have me do, if not go all the way there and yell at his face that I wasn't going to accept it?! It's not MY FAULT if they threw us out!"

And Petunia would quietly agree, saying "Yes, Vernon", while noticing that his cheeks were red and his grip on her was firmer, and there was a vein in his forehead that seemed to be about to explode. In those times, she had to admit to being a little afraid of him, but she never thought he would get violent. Not really.

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So, despite her parents' careful objections, and Lily's quite vocal protests that "the man was a pig, Tuney, you could do loads better than that", she accepted Vernon's proposal after a year of dating him. In part because she didn't like anyone, much less her sister, telling her what to do, and in part because she truly believed they could make a good couple. Sure, he had some irritating traits, but that was nothing she couldn't change after their marriage, right?

So, a few months later she found herself on her way to their honeymoon (Vernon had picked Majorca), very happy about her decision. Best of all was that her annoying sister had chosen not to attend, "in protest that Tuney is making the biggest of her life and won't listen to me". She couldn't care less. In a few days, she would tell Vernon the truth, and as they were moving to Surrey, far away from her childhood home, she hoped that they would never hear from Lily again.

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But, as she had once feared, Vernon had not taken the news all too well. First, he laughed like a crazy man, thinking she was playing a prank on him. Then, when she stood there and didn't say a thing, he got really mad, really fast, and started shaking her, yelling at her.

"YOU NEVER SAID NONE OF THIS NONSENSE TO ME BEFORE! HOW COME YOU DO SO** AFTER** WE'RE MARRIED? YOU'RE JUST LIKE HER, AREN'T YOU? A FREAK, AND NOW YOU'RE GONNA DO SOME FREAKISH THING TO TAKE AWAY ALL THAT I HAVE! TELL ME THE TRUTH!"

And she had never been so scared her whole life, but somehow she got him to listen, and told him that no, she was as normal as he was, thank you very much. She told him that she disliked her sister and her kind, that she never wanted anything to do with that world, but had waited until he was officially part of the family to tell the truth, just in case. All this while sobbing her heart out.

He belived her, as last, but hotly declared that he never wanted to hear another word about the affair ever again, and that he was forbidding her to have any contact with her freak sister. He apologized for the earlier outburst, wiped her tears and proposed that they forget all about it and move on with their lifes. After all, it was not likely that anything abnormal would happen in their household.

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So, she never told him when Lily mailed her a letter with an invitation to her wedding, to some scion of some wizarding House named James Potter.

She never told him when Lily wrote to say that she missed her, and that she was really upset when their parents told her and James that she would not be coming to their wedding.

She never told him that Lily had gotten pregnant around the same time that she had.

She never told him that Lily sent a card, half mad with grief, explaining that she was sorry that she couldn't attend their parents' funeral, as she suspected they had been killed in a magic-induced car accident.

She never told him that the last letter she got from Lily was stating that her boy was named Harry James Potter, born on July 31st, 1980, and asking if she wanted to come and meet her nephew.

So, life went on.

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Until that fateful morning in November, 1981, when she went out to pick up the newspaper and discovered a bundle that contained a sleepy baby and a letter. She let out a little scream, and when the child's eyes popped open, she knew something was very very wrong. For that was Lily's son, and Lily was as likely to leave her baby in her doorstep as she was to start doing magic.

"Petunia? Petunia, what's wrong? I heard you scream, and…" He stopped mid-sentence, just as she was entering the house with a baby on her arms.

"Vernon. Vernon, this is my sister's boy, I'm sure of it. I know I never told you she was pregnant, but something is wrong! Why is the baby here? Where is she?" She was so preoccupied with putting Harry somewhat comfortably in ther couch, that she never saw his face turn a sickening shade of red.

"WHAT? WHAT IS THIS LITTLE FREAK DOING HERE? YOU TELL ME RIGHT NOW!"

"Vernon, please calm down! You'll wake Dudley! This one is calm and I don't know why, but you know how Dudley is when he wakes! There's a letter, let's read it."

"Well, what are you waiting for? I haven't got all day! Read this damn thing now!"

With trembling hands, she tore the envelope open and started reading out loud. It said that Lily and James had died a tragic death, that some crazy wizard was hunting people and had come for her sister's family. It said that baby Harry somehow escaped and, as he had to be protected at all costs, the best option would be that they take the boy in, for it would also offer them a degree of protection, and they were his family after all.

She was so shocked that Lily, her sister, her 21 year old sister, was dead and some person had thought it was fine that she was told about it in a bloody letter, besides leaving a baby in a cold doorstep in November, that she missed all the signs that Vernon was about to explode. Again.

"NO. NO, I REFUSE! Petunia, we will not raise this… this thing alongside our Dudley. You hear me? Dudley is a perfectly normal little boy, and I will not have him twisted up by the likes of your sister's spawn! So what that she and that good-for-nothing husband of hers went and got themselves killed? I will NOT be responsible for one of their kind!"

By now, she felt the tears of grief streaming down her face, and she could her Dudley cry upstairs, and maybe Harry was crying a little too. But she was too heartbroken to notice. She had not expected this from Vernon at all. Yes, she knew he despised what was not normal, but this… to dismiss Lily's death that way, to talk about a baby that way… She had to do something.

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So, she talked. She made it seem that she agreed with him, of course it was Lily's fault they were now in this situation, but can't you see that they could benefit from this? This Dumbledore person said they would get some money to pay for the boy's expenses, and as those freaks had ways of entering their house, wasn't it good to have a little protection? Slowly, she convinced him that keeping Harry was the right thing to do. She cried a little for the first nights, but decided to ignore the things Vernon said, and try to raise the boys the best she could.

That is, until she saw Vernon hitting Harry for the first time.

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It was a normal January morning. She had been awake for a while, taken a shower, and started on breakfast. She heard Vernon coming down the stairs, and she knew he would stop by the living room to ruffle Dud's hair before entering the kitchen. But she wanted to know if he wanted boiled eggs, so she also went that way. And how she wished she could erase the site that greeted her now. Dudley was playing with all the toys, including Harry's, and Vernon was slapping her nephew's face, his own strangely reddened, while saying "this is for you to learn never to touch these toys again. They are Dudleys, and a little freak like you doesn't deserve them".

She paled and ran to the kitchen. In a daze, she served her husband breakfast, waved him goodbye and sat in a chair. Was this who Vernon really was? A hateful man who would hit a toddler just because he was different? Sure, she had hated Lily and all that she represented, but she had never raised her hand to her sister. And in no circumstance she would do something like that to an innocent baby like Harry.

She thought back to all the bad things Vernon had done since they met, and she was faced with the truth she had been avoiding all along: he was horrible. Had she been so desperate for someone normal that she had ignored all the signs? What would she do? Petunia had some money saved from the various jobs she had worked before getting pregnant, and some inheritance that her parents had left behind. It wasn't much, but it was something.

So, she started planning.

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**A/N: Hello, is there anybody out there? I'm back!**

**I must confess that I have no idea of what I am doing. I have never written a fic that wasn't purely Harmony, so this is a bit of a challenge to me. I also have no idea how long this will be, or how often I'll be able to update. Sorry about that! But, that said, I hope you like it. This idea has been bugging me and I wanted to get it out of the way. See you soon!**

**Bee.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer #1: I do not own Harry Potter. I'm just a writer wannabe and I have too much fun doing this to stop now. ILY, J.K. Rowling! Thanks for this amazing world you created and for letting us play with it.**

**Disclaimer #2: I'm a brazilian gal, so please excuse any spelling mistakes. Feel free to point them out to me, tho! :D**

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It took a few months, but Petunia finally thought she was ready for the final step in the "I'm leaving my husband" operation.

At first, she struggled against her own decision. Despite witnessing Vernon's displays of anger towards her nephew a few more times after that first, fatidic day, she had to come to terms with the fact that the man she thought she loved didn't really exist. Petunia had wanted a **normal** life so badly that she was more than willing to ignore all the signs that were right in front of her. So, whenever Vernon had acted like his true self, a bitter and violent man, Petunia had ignored it, dismissing his actions for nothing. She'd created a persona for her husband in her mind from day one, and it had been a horrible blow to acknowledge that the reality was far different from her fantasies.

Still, she no longer had that excuse available. Faced with the very real possibility that one day she and Dudley could become his next 'targets', and the very real truth that he simply _despised_ a baby for his abilities, Petunia had to wipe her tears and face her situation. She was young, but didn't have many qualifications, had a baby son and a nephew to look for, and had married a man who thought it was perfectly **normal**__to shout despicable things about her dead relatives and abuse someone who could barely speak.

So, as soon as she realised all that, a plan had began to take form. First, she had to accept that the thing that had destroyed her relationship with Lily was her jealous and petty nature, and therefore she couldn't be jealous of Harry. Nor could she let Dudley grow up to be. That was very difficult for the blond woman, since she had believed for so long that their kind was nothing more than freaks, and had swore to have nothing to do with them. After all, if she couldn't perform magic, it was best to stay _very_ away from it.

That was no longer a possibility, so as Petunia started to quietly deposit her savings in a bank under her maiden name, she did some real soul searching. She still cringed when Harry would levitate a toy and Dudley would stare at him wide-eyed, or when he would make their little soldiers play by themselves. (Fortunately, most of this happened when the boys played in the afternoon, so Vernon rarely saw her sister's boy do "freakish things"). But she also took notice of the brilliant smile that would frame the toddler's face every time he did something like this, or the fact that her Dud also seemed to think it was all very nice, since after staring he would began clapping or attempting to talk and ask his cousin to do it again.

Whenever things like these happened, Petunia watched silently from the other side of the room, and her heart broke for the things she had said and done to Lily over the years. She was much too young when Lily began doing accidental magic to be anything other than a little frightened and jealous, but this... being able to witness the expression of sheer bliss that adorned little Harry's face when he did the same somehow forever changed her view of magic. Of course, a part of the young mother still wished that magic was also within her, but she decided that she wouldn't hate the magic users anymore. If she were to escape this life and raise the two boys, she would do it right. If only to appease her sister's spirit (and her own conscience), she would try to atone for her mistakes by raising little Harry Potter as if he were her own.

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But even with those things out of the way, Petunia still had much to do. How to go about the wizarding world? If she were to move out of Privet Drive, would they find out? Did she want they to find where they would be living? Would it be beneficial to have someone from that wolrd helping her raise Harry? After all, she didn't have much experience with accidental magic, but she knew it could be nasty, and both Petunia and Dudley would be powerless to help Harry control it. There were so many questions...

She read the letter Dumbledore had left tucked in her nephew's basket several times, but never saw any indication that he would be willing to help. He could have knocked on their door instead of leaving the boy out in the cold the whole night, for Heaven's sake! That did not sit well with the blond woman, so she crossed his name out of her list. That horrid boy, Severus, was also out. He scared the life out of her, and she had never seen him again after marrying Vernon. Petunia didn't know the names of any of Lily's friends, because at the time she was too busy trying to distance herself from the readhead to care about Lily's school mates. There were a few things she thought was possible for her to do, though: she could try and find that Leaky something place that lead to the wizarding alley in London, certainly that would be a start. Maybe she could get some information there, for if there was anything Petunia was good at, was eavesdropping.

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By the time June had come, all her money was safely stashed away in a minor bank, under her maiden name (with a variation - she would now go as Rose Evans. It was a family tradition to have flower names for the girls, but Petunia was fairly certain that Vernon would not make the connection), and she had gotten a job as a secretary in a Dental Practice in Kent. It seemed nice enough, as the doctors were a married couple with a young daughter. If she played her cards right, the boys would have a friend in their new place, and wouldn't suffer too much after being parted with everything they knew.

Some nights, though, her head would be filled with doubt, and then she would usually cry herself to sleep. She was throwing away a very much wanted **normal**__life, she was taking her boy away from his father and she was certain she would screw everything up and Vernon would find them and punish all three severely for daring to break his perfect little family. And all this because of a boy she never counted as family till a few months before? Was she crazy?

But then, she would see Harry stretch his little arms towards her, those green eyes boring into her blue ones, and Petunia would remind herself that she was doing this to right all the wrongs.

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"Pet? Come here now!" She heard Vernon's shout and immediately knew Harry must have done something. Her husband's voice sounded shaky, and that was never a good sign.

"You see know? We can't allow this to happen anymore! I say we start to beat this freakishness out of him, maybe it will work!" Vernon's face was almost purple as he said this, and Petunia had turned away from him to see what was causing this sudden display of disgusting behavior.

Harry was _summoning_ books from the shelf where she kept his and Dudley's bed time readings. He was giggling and Dudley was crawling around the room, trying to catch the little books. There was a sense of **normalcy **on the scene that appealed to Petunia, but maybe that was because she was so used to them doing things like this.

"What... What do you mean, Vernon?"

"Well, can't you see what our Duddy is doing? He is following the little freak's lead! We have to stop this nonsense before they grow, cut the evil by the roots! I say one beating once in a while can do wonders for the obedience of a little pest like him!" His chest was puffed and Petunia realised he was actually proud of that twisted logic. Her heart broke once more over this obvious sign that this man was anything but normal.

"You want to beat up the boy? What would the neighbors say? What if one of them spot the marks or whatever?" She was trying to buy time with these excuses, for even now she could see the hunger in Vernon's eyes. The hunger for violence, and it scared her more than anything in the world.

"We'll just have to make it so they don't know the real truth, okay? We can say he's so clumsy he keeps falling down the stairs or something. I also think we should keep them apart. He's almost 2 now, so I don't want our Dudders near him anymore. Maybe we can throw him in the cupboard under the stairs, make it his 'bedroom'?" He let a little laugh come out of his lips with the thought of the boy sleeping under something he could step on any time he wanted.

Petunia felt sick.

"..."

"Come on Pet, I know you hate the little shit and what he represents even more than I do. Anyway, think about it, I have to get going now. I expect to find his things moved down here when I come home from work, okay?" He leaned in to kiss her, but she fidgeted with her blouse and turned her face just in time for him to reach her cheek. He gave her a strange look, but Petunia never saw it, and then went away.

She sat there, flabbergasted, for a few minutes, before realising that tears were coming down her cheeks. This was it. This was the day. She composed herself, and went about packing all their things. A few weeks before, Petunia had found an old taxi driver that didn't blink an eye when she offered him some money to take her to the bus station. It was time to call him.

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As Rose (as she kept reminding herself to not forget her new name), Jake and Harry Evans made their way to a tiny flat in a new town, the young mother tried to fight back the tears. The boys were sound asleep in a trolley, and she didn't think they had registred much of what had happened during the day. Rose had thought best to change Dudley's name, as it had been Vernon's choice, but decided to leave Harry's, in yet another attempt to honor her sister. Today was the last day of June, and in a few days she would begin working in Granger &amp; Granger, Dental Practice. Fortunately, she'd had enough of a head start so that their flat was not empty, and there was food for a few days as well. Rose had thought best to take the boys to Diagon Alley right away, because it would be difficult to do so once work started. She went to bed that night praying that she would be able to find some friend of her nephew's parents that could help them. _"Please, Lily, help me find them. I want to do right by our boys."_ That was her last thought before she fell asleep.

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Two things happened the day Petunia Dursley left Number Four, Privet Drive, for the last time. One she could have predicted, the other she could have no idea.

In a certain castle up in Scotland, Albus Dumbledore was reviewing some paperwork when his silver trinkets ceased to function at once. Alarmed, he immediately got up from his chair to check the objects. After casting a few detection spells and finding nothing wrong with them, he was utterly confused.

"This was not supposed to happen. Something of this magnitude would only happen if the boy died, and the readings do not suggest anything like that..." He was rambling and knew it, but if that was really the case, if young Harry Potter had truly died, everything he knew and held dear would cease to exist. It couldn't be possible!

And then, just like they had stopped working, the trinkets began moving again. First, slowly, then back at full force. Albus Dumbledore let out a breath he wasn't aware of holding, and dismissed the whole thing as an oddity. To be sure, he would visit the boy's home when classes ended. He could never be too careful, after all.

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Vernon Dursley came home fully expecting a nice kidney pie with a beer for dinner, and a wife and baby to cuddle the night away. What he found left him in such a state he would find himself unable to eat for days, never mind cuddle with anyone.

It was empty. The boys' room, Petunia's side of the closet, the playroom. It was all empty. In the kitchen, he found a note that explained his wife had left him because she had come to see who he truly was, and could never be in a relationship with someone who thought acceptable to beat up a baby boy.

Vernon's face was completely disfigured with rage.

"WHAT! SHE DARES TAKE AWAY MY SON BECAUSE OF THAT LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT! WHO WILL FEED ME NOW? I WILL FIND YOU PETUNIA, AND YOU WILL BE SORRY FOR THIS!"

He was shouting for no one, really, for Petunia didn't even exist anymore. And he certainly would not find her if she didn't want to be found. Vernon just didn't know that yet.

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**A/N: Here it is folks, chapter 2!**

**First, I want to thank you for all the lovely reviews on the first chapter. I'm so glad y'all are enjoying this story so far! Another thing: I have never read any fics that features Petunia leaving Vernon, so anything you see here that you recognize from another story is purely coincidental. If that is the case, though, please tell me so I know and can tell people I'm not stealing anything :P **

**Also, I am going for the robst school of fancfiction and making this up as I go along. Again, I have no idea how long this will be, or how often I'll be able to update. See you!**

**Bee.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer #1: I do not own Harry Potter. I'm just a writer wannabe and I have too much fun doing this to stop now. ILY, J.K. Rowling! Thanks for this amazing world you created and for letting us play with it.**

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She woke up startled.

It took a few moments to recognize the room she was in, but she let out a breath when snippets of the day before started coming back to her. Gathering the boys' things. Packing. Writing a note to Vernon. Calling the old taxi driver from Wisteria Lane. Getting on the cab with the toddlers and never once looking back at Number Four, Privet Drive. Arriving at their new flat in Kent. Soothing her boys and cuddling with them until they fell asleep. Going to bed, feeling exhausted but somewhat happy.

Petunia Dursley (or Rose Evans, from now on), sighed. She had left behind an abusive husband, and currently had little money and absolutely no idea of what her next move regarding her nephew should be. For little Harry Potter, not yet two years old, was a very special boy. Very special indeed, as the child was already capable of performing small feats of magic to keep himself and his cousin entertained. She didn't quite remember how old her sister Lily was when the first bout of accidental magic happened, but she had overheard a number of conversations Lily had with their parents along the years.

Petunia never really participated in any aspect of Lily's magical life; for years she had envied and despised her little sister, but she always wanted (_no, needed, she thought)_ to know everything that was going on, even if it was just to shout at the redhead's face how _unnatural _she was, and how Petunia herself preferred to be just as **normal **as their beloved parents. She recalled those memories with a burning sense of shame, and once again prayed that the youngest Evans would forgive her when the time came. In any case, she had indeed heard when Lily had talked about magical prowess, and how children could show signs of being magical at the tender age of one or even only when they were close to eleven, the age required to start magical schooling. Her sister had also said that the earliest tended to be the more powerful, although that was not a rule. Petunia kept thinking about that. She never knew James Potter, Lily's husband, but she knew that the girl would never fall (or worse, marry) a buffoon. He had to be at least very intelligent, on the same league as the redhead. She wondered if Harry's parents were the reason he was already showing signs of being a powerful wizard. It most likely was.

Once again, she felt shame. Shame for having refused to attend their wedding, dumped her letters, and for always shunning the Potter family from her own until one day they were no longer on this earth to be shunned. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she decided to get up and get ready for the day.

It promised to be a long one.

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"Mummy! Harry's makin' the toy's fly 'gain! Look, mummy, look!" Dudley, a.k.a. Jake, was feeling very happy. He didn't know why they were not at home anymore, but his mummy wasn't crying, his cousin was giggling and the toys were flying! All he wanted now was his brekkie, and then all would be right in his world.

"I see it love, it's very nice. Harry, you're such a good boy! But please, stop now so I can make your breakfast, okay? You can play with your cousin later." She gave the boys a little smile and ruffled their hairs on the way to the kitchen. As the flat wasn't very big, and the two toddlers were currently crawling on the floor near the table, she had to ask him to stop, else nothing would get done in time.

"Mummy, I wan' do that too! Can I make 'em fly like a balloooooon? Pleeeeease?"

She froze.

She had dreaded this moment.

Calming herself, she turned to look at her boys.

"Oh, baby, I'm sorry. Harry is a little different than us, that is why he can make the toys fly, or make your books come to you when I'm not around. It's nothing to be afraid of, we're just different. I promise you'll understand when you grow up, and I'm sure Harry will always be here to do these things for you. Isn't that right, Harry?" She had kneeled in front of the children, and tried her best calming voice on Dudley. He had turned to eye his cousin, with a frown on his face, but looking like he was expecting something.

"Yeah! I do that loads and loads for you, Dud! Fun!" and he giggled a little more. Dudley seemed upset for a minute, but then looked at his mother and decided that he could accept that answer for now.

"S'okay. Different not bad, huh? But we're hungry, mummy!" He pointed his chubby little fingers to himself, and then to the black haired boy. They both started laughing and she smiled; it would be all right in the end.

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"Thank you so much for looking after Jake, Dr. Granger, it would be really hard to take him to London with us. And I had this appointment for Harry scheduled ages ago, we really can't miss it!" She was fussing over her boy, who was currently sleeping in a cot placed in the middle of the Granger's playroom.

Petunia had decided to wait a few days before going to the alley, because she had to make sure the boys would understand the need for Dudley to become Jake. At first they were confused, but she had explained it as if it were a game: they had moved and now had new, and better, names! Harry had asked why they couldn't change his too, but the blonde mother had explained that as his last name was changed, she didn't see the need. They had thought it was super fun, and so Dudley became Jake, she became Rose, and the Evans family was born.

"Oh, Rose, think nothing of it! And how many times must I tell you to call me Sarah? I understand perfectly, after all our little Hermione is always going to the toddler and baby clinic for her check-ups. I'll be sure to keep Jake entertained until she wakes up, and then they can play together. It really is best to do this now, seeing that you'll have little time when you start working with us. But I'm sure we can arrange to take all three of them together the next time." The woman smiled, and once again Petunia thanked the Heavens for meeting her.

The Grangers were a very nice middle-aged couple, who had only one child. Sarah called Hermione their 'miracle girl', as she'd had several miscarriages before the girl was born. David was just happy they got the chance to be parents, and was very pleased when he learned that Petunia had two boys. Because of complications, Sarah was no longer able to have children, and the couple thought it would be very nice indeed if they could arrange playdates between the three toddlers. After all, there's nothing more precious than a child's laugh.

"Yes, that would be very nice! Thank you for the thinking about that. Well, we must be going now, else we'll miss the train. I expect to be back in a few hours, but please call me if anything happens." She said, and when Sarah nodded, she made her way back to the door, where Harry was peacefully sleeping in his buggy.

Saying goodbye one last time, Petunia and Harry made their way to the nearest train station, with one destination in mind: Charing Cross Road.

Xxxxxxx

"Now, Harry, where might this pub be? I don't quite remember, as I was only here for one time. You see, it was your mum's first trip to the wizarding world…" She was talking quietly to the toddler, while looking for any sign that this was the right place. The only problem was that she had been walking this street up and down for about twenty minutes and wasn't having any luck. Sighing, Petunia picked up her nephew as she had noticed he was becoming a little agitated.

As soon as their flesh touched, a building materialized out of thin air. Or so it seemed.

"Oh! So you have to be with a wizard or a witch to be able to see this Leaky Cauldron. Well, shall we get this over with? I hope we can discover something about your parents' friends, little one. I really, really, do…" She gave the boy a kiss on the cheek and put him back on his buggy as she made her way to the strange looking building.

As soon as Petunia entered the pub, though, all eyes seemed to focus on her. There were even a few snide remarks as she walked until the counter, where a short and bizarre (_no, different) _looking man was cleaning a set of glasses.

"Can I help you, ma'am? I'm Tom, I own the place. I don't think I've ever seen you here before…"

"Oh, that's quite alright, seeing I'm not from around here. I mean, I am British, of course, but my family moved to Australia when I was eleven. I just recently moved back, and decided to check the Alley. It has been many years…" She tried to use her best commanding voice, and also talked a little loud. The reaction was immediate: most of the people lost interest in the conversation, but a few continued looking at her. _Oh well,_ Petunia thought, _at least I_ _had the foresight to cover Harry's head with a hat, nobody seemed to recognize us._ _It was probably the buggy that almost gave us away. _For she was dressed in a long black trench coat, that seemed more like a cape, and was a passable copy of a wizarding robe.

"Ah, miss, welcome back, then! May I get you something to drink? Water, butterbeer, pumpkin juice?"

"Some pumpkin juice would be nice, thank you. I'll just sit with my boy on that corner over there."

And so she spent the next two hours pretending to be waiting for someone, eating some weird things, and doing what she did best: listening to others' conversations.

"The Potter boy will be two in a few weeks, you know that?

"Alas, it was my greatest wish to see the Boy-Who-Lived on his birthday, but nobody knows where he is…"

"You saw the latest Dumbledore article on the Prophet? I don't believe for a second he has Harry Potter tucked away somewhere. The child is dead, I know it! If not, why were we never allowed to see our savior?"

"Such a shame, such a shame. I'll always remember the Potters, though, they were good people."

"What I can't figure out is why the hell they would be friends with Sirius Black!"

"Yes, well, we can all make mistakes…"

A name! Finally! When she noticed a young couple walking to the back of the pub, she quickly followed. Petunia knew this was the entrance to Diagon Alley, but as she wasn't a witch, she had to wait for someone to "open it" for her.

She tried not to look out of place, doing her best to look as this was a sight so common to her as the sun up in the sky. Fortunately, Harry had gone back to sleep once he had eaten his lunch, so there was no noise coming out of the buggy. She quickly made her way to the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts. It was indeed fortunate that Petunia had chosen this day to visit the alley, as there were very few people circulating.

"Excuse me", she said, approaching the nearest salesman, "I'm looking for books about… about the Potters." That last bit was said with a whisper, as she was trying to avoid anyone listening in on the conversation.

"Erm… we have a few books that cover the last war, miss, if that's what you're interested about. I have to ask, though, how come you don't know about them?" The man asked, curious.

WAR?! THERE HAD BEEN A WAR?! HOW COME NOT ONE NORMAL (OKAY, NON-MAGICAL) PEOPLE HAD BEEN INFORMED OF THIS?

Trying to calm down, and offering the man a reassuring smile, she told him the same tale Tom from The Leaky Cauldron had heard. The salesman face softened a bit, as he said "Ah!" in a muffled tone, and moved back to retrieve her books.

"There you are, miss, these three are the best we have. It will cost you a galleon each, but he have a sitting area for our customers to read…" He said, looking at the toddler currently sleeping next to them.

"Ah yes, that would be most appreciated. I just want to have a quick look, as this little one needs to get home in a few moments." She replied, already moving to the area he had pointed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

She sat there for what seemed like an eternity. There had actually been a war fought because of blood prejudice, and the magical world had almost lost! If not for Harry, according to the books, these wizards and witches would have been doomed! How could this be? Where had the police been? The government? How could the fate of an entire society rest on an infant?

And then she found the passage she had truly been seeking, about Lily's friends.

"_The Potters were known for being very popular at their time in Hogwarts, as they were excellent students and eventually became Head Boy and Girl. Close friends, however, were equally skilled. Frank and Alice Longbottom (née Frasier) of Ravenclaw, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black of Gryffindor, and Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes of Hufflepuff were all friends of the couple._

_Unfortunately, tragedy happens. And in a time of war, it happens way more often than it should. The Longbottoms were tortured into insanity a few days after the events of Halloween, 1981. Marlene and Dorcas, along with their entire families, were killed in the early days of the war, soon after they left Hogwarts. Remus Lupin's whereabouts are unknown. Sirius Black is incarcerated in Azkaban for life, for it was him that led You-Know-Who to the Potter. He also is responsible for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and 12 muggles."_

Petunia was horrified. It seemed that almost all of Lily's friends were lost to her, but to know that it was actually one of them that facilitated her sister's murder shocked her to the core.

"I hope that he rots in that hell", she mutered to herself as the tears started falling on her cheeks. Quickly wiping them off, and shutting the book, she contemplated her next move.

_The only one I might be able to find is this Lupin person. Maybe they have something like the post around here, and I can send him a letter._

It would be almost an hour later that a very worn out young woman and a toddler would walk out of The Leaky Cauldron. But she had made contact. All that was left to do now was wait.

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**A/N: First of all: I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING THIS LONG TO UPDATE! Life is pretty crazy right now, as this is my final year at University and I'm doing my final project etc etc. And there's my internship… Still, I hope you liked this chapter! **

**A couple of things:**

**In Book 1, Hermione mentions that she has read about Harry in a few books before coming to Hogwarts. So, I think it's okay to assume that these same books would cover a little bit of his parents' life, including who were their friends, what became of them, etc. Also, I just put them in random houses because it's more interesting that way. xD**

**I know that there isn't a lot of action in this chapter, but as we are still quite in the beginning, that's to be expected. And thank you for all your lovely reviews! They make my day, seriously. To answer some questions: Dudley is non-magical. I will not bash Dumbledore (much). I'm still not sure about having Harry call Petunia 'mum', we'll see how that goes.**

**A/N 2: This fic is un-betaed and English is not my first language. Feel free to point out any mistakes to me! As always, I have to be honest and say that I don't have a clue when will the next update be (hopefully soon), and I am making this up as I go along.**

**Next chapter: What became of Vernon, Dumbledore makes another appearance, and much more…**

**xx Bee **


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